Tucked Away
by Fancy-Hart
Summary: Why is there a hidden bank account, neither of Snape's husbands have seen? What's he up to? SSSBRL
1. Chapter 1

The last Sunday in every month - like clockwork, coffee was brewed, slippers donned and spectacles perched on the edge of a nose that sloped so sharply it seemed sheer will alone kept them from teetering off the edge.

The long, slim, crisp white envelopes were gathered from the temporary resting spot, the pigeon hole in the shared office, and a muggle calculator was retrieved from the potions lab.

Well this is what should have happened- had Severus Snape not been ill that month, and therefore dead to the world having been pumped full of Pepper-up potion and sleeping draught by his husbands. Sirius and Remus Snape has amused themselves that morning, once the worry had eased with the potions master's fever, by making as much noise as humanly possible to wake the sleeping man - going as far as to configure a drum from a nearby pillow, and beating it loudly while yelling muggle songs from their youth. That man was out.

Remus had decided they would let him sleep through the day, the night, and hopefully Severus would awaken well and refreshed the next day. In the meantime they would keep themselves amused and see to anything the other man usually tended to.

Which is how Sirius found himself staring at a muggle bank statement to an account he did not recognise. Opening all the bills as he had seen Severus do many times, he had divided them between house, grocery, unexpected and Sundry. In his absent mindedness, he hadn't clicked that the white envelope he held was thinner than the others, and was addressed to Master S Snape, rather than Mr.

He stared in confusion - this was an account apparently opened six months after they had been married, and had a substantial amount of money in it- with the last donation being made that very month. An account that had been opened for 12 years, and he had never seen it. He called Remus to the study.

In the bedroom, Remus was stroking his sleeping mate's cheek, reveling in the relief of finding it significantly cooler than it had been mere hours ago. "The wonders of modern magic" he thought. He glanced up as he heard Sirius calling for him, with a peck to Severus' cheek, he closed the door behind him and headed to the study.

Upon entering, he saw the ex-mauarder staring in shock at what appeared to be a bill.

"Sir-"

"Remy?" Sirius asked in an unsure voice. Immediately worry drenched the wolf's body.

"Pads? What's wrong?" In response, he was handed the page his husband had been staring at. "Wha-?"

"Read it" came the gruff reply. With a worried glance at the other man, he looked down at the page and scanned it quickly, unable to make sense of what the problem was.

"Siri, I don't-"

"He's been hiding money from us."

"Who has?"

Sirius gave him a look, "Snape" in an attempt to lighten the mood, Remus reminded his husband, that all 3 of them were Snapes. "Yea, well maybe one of us isn't sure about that any more."

"What?!" shouted Remus "Pads- I don't underst-"

"He has been hiding money from us Moony!"

"So!? You want to leave because he has a few thousand more than you knew? It's muggle Sterling anyway! It's practically knuts compared to what we have in the joint account. I can't believe you're this upset over money!"

Sirius sighed, "Dammit. Remus, this is a muggle account". With a "No shit look" shot at him from his smaller husband he, again sighed, and continued. "It's referred to as a tuck away account, because it is tucked away from your spouse or partner." Remus moved to sit on the chair that was in front of the large maple desk, he shrugged his shoulders in confusion. Sirius put his hands in his hair and muttered to himself. "Throughout history, women in unhappy or straight up abusive marriages could not leave. Especially if they had children. They had no money for themselves and usually had to rely on their husband - who would dictate the earnings and spending of the household. After the suffragette-"

At Remus's confused face he explained "muggle feminist thing, basically women were allowed to open bank accounts and get jobs finally…long story short, many young girls before marriage were encouraged to open these accounts and tuck away any spare change or money or earnings they could have. It meant if and when the marriage broke down, they were not left penniless and homeless." Realisation began to dawn on the werewolf's eyes.

"Siri-"

"Even after 15 years, he still has an escape route."

"Oh" came the soft reply.

"Yeah" sighed Sirius, as he moved to sit on the armchair that was backed against the wall, facing the desk. He put his head in his hands, feeling the tears in his eyes. "He never really loved us did he?"

"Wha-"

Sirius looked up "If he did, he wouldn't be making sure he could leave at a moment's notice."

Remus put the paper on the desk and shuffled the chair closer to were his husband had hunched over himself in the arm chair. "I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation Pads, maybe he forgot about it?"

Sirius stood up suddenly, "Moony - the last deposit was made 24 days ago - he no more forgot about it than he's forgotten how to brew. I knew it. I knew it. I have to go, I'll see you later."

"Wait S-" But the man had disapparated, leaving Remus alone in the study.

"Oh Sev love, what a mess." he muttered to himself.

Hours later, in the dead of night - it was thirst unlike he had ever felt that dragged Severus Snape from his peaceful slumber. Seconds passed before he was able to gain his bearings, and a quick "Tempus" showed him it was 4.37am, he had slept for over 24 hours. He turned his head to see his werewolf, lying asleep beside him as usual, fluffy socks and all. But it was the tear stained cheeks and the death grip on Sirius' pillow that had Severus concerned. He moved slowly to see if Padfoot could answer some questions, and found that end of the bed empty. "What the hell had happened?" he thought. He heard the floo downstairs come to life, and some voices. Slowly inching out of the bed, he grabbed his robe and headed to the living room. Upon entering he saw Ralf attempting, unsuccessfully to keep his drunk husband from re-entering the fireplace.

"Snape will kill me if I let you hurt yourself in the floo - come on Sirius!"

"He wouldn't give a shit, now let me go - I don't want to be here" slurred the animagus.

"Come now old boy, that's just the liquor talking" as he finally unfooted Sirius and got him on the settee.

"No, I want to be tucked away, out of sight out of mind"

Ralf rolled his eyes, and in doing so caught the potions master's gaze. He sighed and turned to the floo. "Night Sirius." and was gone through the still open channel.

Sirius attempted to stand up, and fell back on the settee. Twice more he tried, on his third attempt he made it to his feet and managed two steps before he lost his footing and fell to the ground. Upon hitting the ground he began to moan. Severus finally shook himself and walked to his husband. Whose moans had turned to cries. Just as he was about to make himself known, the crying man struggled to sit up and produced his wand. The potions master hesitated.

"Accio suitcase" wavered Sirus' voice. "Accio sobering potion" He downed the potion in one, unable to stop the grimace at the taste. Opening the small black suitcase that had appeared at his feet, he began his list. "Accio cloak, shoes, jeans, boxers, deodorant, toothbrush, wallet, keys." Severus moved back into the shadows to watch the proceedings as each item flew into the small suitcase. Finally it was zipped shut and laid beside the fire. Sirius stood up steadily, he looked at his hand, where the silver band lay and bit at the corner of his lip. He brushed tears from his eyes, before reaching for the ring to take it off.

"Don't you fucking dare." Sirius looked up in shock.


	2. Chapter 2

"Fucking hell Snape"

The potions master moved from the shadows, and was easily seen due to the fire's flames, which cast long shadows on the face of both men, causing them to look simultaneously tired and demonic.

"Leave it _Snape_" he replied.

Sirius let go of the ring, sighed and ran his hands down his face, suddenly feeling every second if his age. "What do you-"

Severus stepped towards his husband, grabbing he suitcase "no" he interrupted, "_you_ don't get to ask questions - you get to answer them, you get to explain why you were going to leave without telling either of your mates _and_ _why you were going to remove that band_" the potions master's voice became dangerously low.

Sirius scoffed and attempted to take his case back, bending down to retrieve it from his husband's dormant hand, Severus charmed the case to empty, sending the items back to where they had come from and spelled it to levitate above their heads grabbing the animagus' hands, which were now hanging limply at his sides. He said nothing, but pulled him to follow the ex-teacher into the kitchen, where he pulled out a seat and nudged Sirius into it. Sirius placed his folded arms on the table, and leaned his chin on them, staring blankly ahead of him at the faux fruit arrangement. Occasionally he lifted his ring finger to his mouth, in order to toy with his wedding band. Severus watched him for a few seconds, as though to be sure the other man wouldn't move, he placed his hand on the band once again, and removed the mouth that played with it.

"Leave it" he whispered "please"

Sirius glanced at him, and without reply, tucked his left hand back into the crook of his opposite arm. Severus stayed a few seconds longer, as if afraid to move lest Sirius run, before turning his back to fill and boil the kettle. He removed two mugs from the cupboard above the kettle, the sugar bowl along with insanely tiny spoon - something Sirius had collected from his travels in the muggle world after Hogwarts, two tea bags from the mason jar on the counter, and hoked around for something to eat. He had been asleep all day and Sirius had been drinking - no doubt both of them could do with something in their stomachs. So engrossed in his thoughts and wondering what could be wrong, he missed the first one. The sound of the kettle boiling and clicking off covered the sound of the second one, metal spoon clicking in the mug to both mix in milk and remove tea bag covered the third and fourth, which is why he didn't notice the tears flowing down the still seated, stoic man until he turned back to him.

Walking to the table with furrowed brows, he placed the two steaming mugs and small side plate of fairy cakes he had nicked from Remus's stash on to the table. He pulled out the neighboring seat and sat on it sideways, leaning over the table to comfort his husband. His heart panged when, as he lifted his hands to reach for him, Sirius flinched back.

"Siri?" The animagus shook his head, and refused to look at him. "Pads?" This seemed to cause the tears to come faster from the other man. "What is all this? Has something happened - were you hurt tonight, did someone do something to you?" Sirius snorted, and muttered. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that" Sirius barked a sarcastic laugh.

"No one except you." Severus sat back, as his brain wracked through everything that had occurred the past few days - he didn't know what he had done, he'd been asleep all day and last night for Merlin's sake, how had he offended his husband _while he was asleep. _

_"_You need to give me a bit more to go on here love"

"You have plenty, trust me"

"Sirius, what are you talking about!?"

"Nothing, forget it Snape" he spat, sitting back on his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You are Snape too" growled Severus "Don't you forget it" He grabbed his husbands ring hand and put it in his face. Sirius made to take the ring off again.

Yea for how long?" Severus wrenched his husband's hands apart

"I told you to _leave _it!" He covered both hands with his own, palm down on the kitchen table. "And what do you mean for how long?"

"Yea well you'd know all about leaving things wouldn't you? Or should I say people? And that's a good question _Snape, _how long? How long are you gonna stay here? With me? With Remus? Were you just gonna vanish one day and leave us to pick up the pieces?"

"It was you who was leaving without any goodbyes _Sirius Snape_."

"Don't call me that!" Sirius struggled to get his hands out from underneath his husbands

"Why not? It's who you are!"

"Well I don't want to be!"

Severus went slack, and sat back in shock. His hands moving towards his body "You don't want to be? But…I don't-"

"I am not letting you make me my father!" yelled the animagus, before running out of the kitchen, leaving a shaken Severus still sitting in the chair.

In the living room, the suitcase charm failed and fell to the floor with a crash.

In the study, Sirius Snape had started packing again, this time by hand.

In the bedroom, Remus Snape awoke to an empty bed.

He climbed out of the duvet before walking into the kitchen, crossing the threshold just in time to see Severus collapse out of his chair and begin to cry.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sev!" the wolf leapt forward onto the ground in front of the shocked man. "What happened?" The potions master sighed and closed his eyes, attempting to maintain some decorum, he pulled himself up to a sitting position, with his back now against the radiator, and his legs outstretched, he placed his face in his two hands before inhaling and looking at the wolf.

"He's leaving"

"Who is?"

Severus took the other man's two hands in his, and looked into his eyes, as though he was searching for something; "Sirius love, and if you want to go with him I would understand." He said, "I will let go if you want me to."

"What the fuck? No!" Severus clenched his eyes as Remus yanked his hands back "No!" he stood up quickly and ran out of the door of the kitchen, before popping his head through the doorway a split second later "Don't move" he ordered the still sitting man, who gave a sarcastic chuckle at the other man, and leaned his head against the wall behind him; staring at the ceiling as though he could see through it and hear the conversation between the two Gryffindors.

Upstairs, Sirius was finished packing and was zipping up his new bag. He had just lifted it onto his shoulder when the door flew open. In the space of 9.5 seconds, his bag was once again forcibly removed from his grip, his items were sent magically to their original place and he was glued to the wall. He let out a growl "Remy" The other man lunged at him, his amber eyes glinting almost gold.

"What. Are. You. Doing?!" Remus' voice became louder and higher with each word. "Do you see what you did to him?!"

Sirius shook his head "What I did to him?! What about what he did-"

"He didn't do anything! I can not believe you are making such a big deal out of some money!" Remus waved his hand to let the dog animagus off the wall, he landed with a soft thud on his feet. The wolf sat on the settee that was in the middle of the room and bowed his head.

"It's not the money Remus, I don't care if he had billions of galleons, it's the principle"

The wolf looked up at his husband "Why Sirius, I don't understand."

"I am not my father Remus Lupin, I-"

"Snape" interrupted not only the mousy haired man sitting, but also the tall potions master, who was now standing in the doorway of the room. He glanced at Remus with a tight, lopsided smile. He moved towards his standing husband, only to step back when once again the animagus flinched from him. "This is the second time you have mentioned your father, what has he got to do with this? More to the point, what is this, you still haven't told me why you are angry." came the exasperated speech from the teacher.

"it doesn't matter" muttered Sirius who now stared guiltily at the floor.

"If it has you this mad and hurt, it matters." Severus tried once again to move to his sulking husband, to offer comfort and was once again rebuked.

"Leave me alone! I am not hurt!"

"For Merlin's sake Sirius!" shouted Remus "Sev- we know about your secret account, Sirius found it when he was doing the bills this morning and he's convinced this means you are leaving us." He turned to the quiet man "Go on Pads, tell him. Tell him how you jumped to conclusions before finding out the whole story." He indicated to the other man with his hands.

"That's what this is about?! You found my tuck away account and you're mad I didn't, what, give you access to all my money?!"

"No!" yelled Sirius

"The Black vaults alone are worth at least one hundred times what is in that account-"

"That's not why I am mad!"

"Then what's the problem!"

"Sev-" both men turned to look at their sitting husband.

"It is a tuck away account?"

"Yes Remus, I don-" The werewolf pulled his knees to his chin

"Oh" was all he said

"I don't…" Sirius brushed past him and sat beside the silent man, putting an arm around him and rocking them slowly.

"I am lost here, I don't know what I have done wrong, please help me so I know how to fix it" begged the lone man. "What did you mean about your father Siri? And why are you so upset about the tuck way-" He watched as his quieter husband flinched.

"Will you quit saying that Snape?!" He looked at the two men and all his fight left him in a rush of air. They were getting nowhere, maybe it was better to leave were angry at him, but clearly were happy just the two of them, especially Sirius judging by the way he flinched as though expecting to be struck. He stood up and decided he was not going to beg any more.

"Sure Black, whatever you say." sighed Severus, "Night Lupin." He looked for a long moment at the pair, before walking to the doorway.

"Wait" He stopped with his hand on the door handle as he prepared to close it behind him. He looked back to see Sirius speaking to him. "I have to know." Snape turned around but remained where he stood. "Did you-" Sirius' voice broke and he buried his voice in the cradled man's hair. "Did you ever feel like we hurt you, like you had….did I abuse you?" Remus and Severus stared at the shaking man.

"What in the actual fuck is -" Severus turned the lights on to full in the room. Before once again turning back to the men. "You two, kitchen. Now. We are going to sort this shit out once and for all, I will see you in 3 minutes." before stalking off, only to be heard thudding down the stairs, and presumably into the kitchen.

He collected the mugs that had been left unused from when he sat there earlier with Sirius, he grabbed an extra mug and fairy cake, which was placed with its mates on the small side plate, rinsed the dirty mugs and refilled the kettle. By the time 3 mugs of coffee sat prepared to the taste of each man, the other two had made their way down stairs and sat at the table. A few moments of silence whilst the coffee was sipped or blown on to cool it, and Severus clasped his hands together in front of him. "Now that we are all here, and calmer. Could one of you please, in terms I will understand tell me what in the actual fucking Merlin's tits is going on here?"


	4. Chapter 4

Silence remained. Severus briefly closed his eyes, before letting out a breath, "I'll start then shall I?" He sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest, making his wedding band glint as the silver reflected the ceiling lights. "From what I have gathered, whilst I was asleep, you" he looked at Sirius "found a bank account with money in it" he looked at Remus "which you had no problem with, until it was referred to as tucked away" he moved his hands to make air quotations on the phrase, before refolding his arms and once again looking at Sirius "but for some reason makes you think that you are your father and that you abuse me." His eyes moved between the two men. "Am I all caught up?"

Again there was silence.

Remus looked down at his mug before muttering quietly "you forgot the part about you leaving."

Severus looked at him "Hmm yes, I did, of course, the irony in that statement is that it was Sirius who was packed and ready to go, yet it is I you think will be leaving?"

Remus looked up from his mug "How did you know that?"

Severus glanced at the still quiet Sirus, who was suddenly finding his mug of coffee very interesting, before his eyes fluttered back to the man who had questioned him"What do you mean?" he asked, "It was me that unpacked his suitcase."

"No" argued Remus, glancing at Sirius, who was still to look up from his beverage "I unpacked the bag, you weren't in the room when it happened." He screwed his eyebrows in confusion

"Remus, we were in the living room, you were still in bed, I had to-" The wolf held his hand up to stop the potions master's speech, he turned his body to the man sitting beside him.

"When we were upstairs, and I unpacked your bag, that was the second time you tried to leave?" Severus looked at Sirius.

"Sirius?"

The blonde man refused to look up, he swallowed visibly, and maintained eye contact with the rapidly cooling liquid.

"He was going to leave anyway!" he cried thrusting an arm towards the teacher as he looked at Remus "besides, I am not about to be my f-"

"Yes, yes your father, care to explain what that is about?" interrupted Severus "and, whilst we are on the topic, why the hell do you think you are abusing myself and Remus?!"

"Not Remus"

"What?"

"Not Remus" he said looking at his husband "just you"

"Oh" muttered the potions master. It was now his turn to stare at his mug "Well why do you think that?"

"Why else would you need the account?" Severus' head shot up to look at the animagus, his eyes took in the dark circles and the drawn, sunken shape of his face, and suddenly it clicked.

"Oh, oh Siri, no love. That's not why I have it. You silly tit"

"It's not?"

"No! I have it tuc-" his eyes flashed to Remus and back to Sirius "set aside because, well because its funds for you two."

"What? Why? We have the joint accounts, we don't need your money."

"No you misunderstand, it's for birthdays and other holid-"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute! Stop!" interrupted Remus "I get that you two now know what's going on, and everyone is happy et cetera, but can someone explain to me what's going on?"

The other two looked at each other, Severus indicated to Sirius to begin talking, but he shook his head. "Want me to tell him?" The other man nodded, and to Severus' relief, he didn't flinch when his husband reached over to place his hand over his. He looked to Remus.

"Remmy, what do you know about these type of accounts?"

The wolf swallowed "Pads says they are for…women" he looked sheepishly at the potions master "who need to leave an unhappy or abusive marriage but don't have access to their own money" Sirius took in a shaking breath, but relaxed when the hand on his gently squeezed.

"That is not untrue love, that is very common among pureblood lines. Especially with arranged marriages as they are. Sirius will have been taught to look out for his bride having any of her own accounts, so that she could not escape and bring dishonour to the family name. " He looked at said man with a question. "If I am right, judging by the comments in relation to your father, his mother had one?" he bore a questioning look "And perhaps she had a real need for one?"

"Mother, and myself. She had started saving for me when she realised she was pregnant, before she realised what a disappointing muggle lover I was to be. When he came upon them accidentally…the carnage. I had never, and never again did see her so weak, or him so angry. She pleaded, and he whipped her over and over and over again. She looked the way you used to when you came back from your death-eater meetings, he hit her so hard that her face was unrecognisable for days. Then it was my turn, I don't….I don't remember much after that, it's a bit of a blur if I am honest…"

"Oh Sirius" sighed Remus

"The thought of you hating me, or being so scared like that I didn't-" tears fell from the animagus' eyes as sobs wracked his body. Remus looked at Severus with worry in his eyes, and watched him stand up, reaching over the table he pulled the crying man around to him and dragged him on to his lap, letting him cry, muttering soft nonsense in his ear as he rocked them.

"You are an idiot love, an absolute idiot."

"Please don't fear me, I wouldn't hurt you, don't leave."

"I know that, I know that you silly man. I would not have stayed if I thought that, Remus and I would have left, money or no."

Remus piped up "You think Harry would let you get away with it either? You know he and Sev have gotten quite fond of each other." Said man smirked "If he wasn't so painfully heterosexual I would be jealous. " Sirius snorted at the wolf's comment.

"I've been foolish" he muttered, sniffing as his tears dried.

"Yes" agreed Severus.

"Hey!" he laughed as he swatted at the man acting as his chair.

The three sat in silence for a few more minutes before Remus had a sudden realisation. "So what is the fund for?" Severus smiled and kissed his husband on the cheek, turning to the man who spoke.

"It is for the money I use to buy presents for you both, anniversaries and birthdays and so on. I don't really like the idea of buying them out of the shared account, you both make substantially more than I so by using money from that account to buy gifts for you, it is like you buying your own gifts. I want them to be from me."

"Severus. You are an idiot." The potions master raised an eyebrow

"Excuse me?"

"You also donate to the joint account - so do you feel you pay for your own gifts?"

"Well no but-"

"So tell me, oh great one" came Sirius' cheeky reply "how the logic applies to you, but not Remus and me?"

"Remus and I"

"Severus!"

The potions master sighed "You are not the only one…scarred…by your parents' marriage. Our house was not exactly harmony either. Mother was one of the women that could have done with a Tuck Away account, but had no way of hiding funds. The little money she did make sewing the odd garment here and there, father forcefully took from her. On the odd occasion he did get her a gift, it was usually something he had stolen, won in a bet and couldn't sell or-"

Remus interrupted him "Or bought with the funds that were actually her own." Severus nodded with a melancholy smile.

"I'm sorry" whispered the animagus, who received a quick squeeze in acknowledgement from his husband. Remus yawned before reaching to put his hands over his mouth belatedly.

Severus checked the hall clock and saw it was nearing 5am. "It is well past the bedtime of middle aged wolves, especially days away from the full moon" he tapped Sirius' legs, hinting for him to stand up, which he did - before giving a hand to the potions master.

"Hmm, I am sleepy"

"Come one wolf, you too mutt - I'll tuck you in"

He pretended not to hear the protests of terrible Puns.


End file.
